OIL industry chiefs are convinced that a carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS) facility at St Fergus in Aberdeenshire will play a major part in decarbonising Scotland’s economy in the future.
Mike Tholen, sustainability director of industry body OGUK, was speaking days after UK Energy Minister Greg Hands announced that the first such facility would be built on the Humber and around Liverpool, with the “Scottish cluster” in reserve.
Tholen, introducing OGUK’s Energy Transition Outlook report yesterday, told journalists: “I think we would struggle to see any future that doesn’t involve Acorn and the developments up at St Fergus being part of the long term decarbonisation of the UK economy, and it is the best tool by far to decarbonise the Scottish economy. It certainly will happen.”
He said there were other horses in the race, and St Fergus may be behind the others just now, but it did not mean it would not pop alongside, and accelerate beyond them.
“It’s got investors, it’s got the technology, it’s got the people, it’s got the infrastructure, and I would be very poor betting man if I didn’t say that it’ll get across the line very soon.”
Will Webster, OGUK energy policy manager, added: “I think, just going back to the scale of the ambition in the UK on CCUS and the number of projects, they will all need to get to the end point, and I think it’s probably a few more twists and turns in when it comes to which one is coming into operation. So, I think it’s not the end of the story, definitely not … it’s in the central part of decarbonising the Scottish economy so it’s going to happen.”
The report said CCUS systems already in development will cut the industry’s own emissions and enable many other heavy industries to decarbonise, including power stations, cement and steel makers, and chemical manufacturers.
Rock formations under the North Sea and east Irish Sea, it said, have the capacity to hold 78 billion tonnes of CO2 – 190 times greater than the UK’s own annual emissions of 400 million tonnes.
Tholen added: “The UK’s offshore oil and gas industry is changing. Our members are breaking ground today on projects and technologies that will revolutionise the UK’s energy systems.”
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